Eric Church & Lukas Nelson Team Up For A Performance Of…Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” At Chief’s In Nashville

Well that wasn’t what I was expecting from that duo…but I’m not mad at it.

Lukas Nelson, son of the legendary Willie Nelson and an incredible artist in his own right, was in Nashville tonight performing in the Neon Steeple at Eric Church‘s downtown bar, Chief’s. The show was just one of many going on tonight in Nashville as CMA Fest week kicks off, but from the looks of it, it was the one you didn’t want to miss.

During the show, Nelson surprised the crowd with an appearance from Church himself – but it turns out the two of them had an even bigger surprise in store when they broke out into a duet of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please.”

The song was a massive hit for Carpenter, peaking at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. And this isn’t exactly the first time it’s gotten the country treatment: She also released a version featuring Dolly Parton earlier this year. But I’ve gotta admit, I definitely wasn’t expecting to hear it from Nelson and Church.

I have to admit, though…it kinda works?

They clearly had fun with it (and they also played a couple more together, including Nelson’s recent single “Ain’t Done”). It looks like a helluva kickoff to CMA Fest at Chief’s, which will be hosting SiriusXM The Highway’s Music Row Happy Hour from Thursday through Sunday this week. Quite a few artists have already announced they’ll be appearing for the radio show, so I have a feeling we’re going to get a lot more of these unexpected performances over the next few days.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Whiskey Riff (@whiskeyriff)

Of course Church and Nelson may have decided to play a cover, but one thing that sets Chief’s apart from other venues on Broadway is that you’ll hear artists and songwriters play their own music, rather than the same covers of “Wagon Wheel” and “My Own Worst Enemy” at the top of every hour.

Church of course spent a lot of time performing at the Neon Steeple himself after opening the bar, with his To Beat The Devil residency serving as an opportunity for Church to not only perform but to tell his story and connect with fans in a way that you just don’t see from artists anymore.

He also recently made a surprise appearance with Metallica when the hard rock band was in Nashville for their shows at Nissan Stadium, and back in April he popped up during a show with his frequent co-writers Jeff Hyde and Ryan Tyndall.

Chief has really made the bar somewhere special on Broadway, somewhere different from all the other bars that are branded after other artists. If you haven’t checked out a show there yet, the Neon Steeple is a two-story venue reminiscent of the Ryman Auditorium that features pews upstairs and stained glass windows of some of Church’s heroes. And on the second floor, there’s a dueling piano bar that also features up-and-coming artists in Nashville – but unlike other places, they’re free to play not only covers but their own music too.

It’s a bar that’s truly about the music, and you never know what you’re going to hear…like Lukas Nelson and Eric Church covering Sabrina Carpenter on a random Wednesday night.The post Eric Church & Lukas Nelson Team Up For A Performance Of…Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” At Chief’s In Nashville first appeared on Whiskey Riff.